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Monday, April 30, 2012

Are you ready for another edition of the 12 Kits of Christmas?Just to refresh your memory, this is a group of 12 designers. Each has been assigned a month to provide the Christmas crafting supplies to the other 11 members. We all receive the same supplies and post our creations on the last day of every month. It's interesting to see how we all come up with something different with the same kit of supplies.

This month our hostess supplying all the goodies is Marybeth. She's provided all sorts of paper crafting goodness, lots of patterned paper, stamped images, and fancy die cuts - Memory box holly vine, jingle bells, snowflakes and a country landscape border. This month I came up with four cards - it seems I've been adding one a month since this started. If it keeps up I will be in big trouble come December :) !! I've named each of the cards so you can match up the material list at the bottom of this post.

Angel Girls

Christmas Tree Silhouette

Lamp Post

Little Village

If you like these, why not see what the rest of the team came up with for this months challenge? Here's a list of the designers with links to their blogs!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Here's what you'll need:Two Sided PaperCircle Punch - Any Size - this will be the size of your finished flower.GlueBrad or Button

1.) Cut 5 circles from two sided paper.

2.) Fold 4 circles in half. I drew where the folds should be on the sample circle next to the folded sample.

3.) Fold the same 4 circles in half the opposite way.

4.) Fold the circles in half again.

5.) Fold in the two opposite sides of the circle to form a triangle.6.) Glue the four triangles on to the last circle.

7.) Bend the flower petals back on all four triangles.

8.) Attach a fancy brad or button to the center to finish your flower. You can use these for scrap booking, card making, or even simple magnets for your fridge. The hardest part is deciding which side of your pretty paper you want to show! Have fun!

Jeanne

Supplies Used: Hole Punch FiskarsPaper in Example Echo Park For the Record CollectionBrad K& Company

Friday, April 27, 2012

Hi and Welcome Back! First I wanted to say I am sorry for "missing in action" lately. I haven't been posting, commenting, and creating as much as I would like lately. We have a new addition to the family - one very energetic Akita! I have been spending lots of time with her - establishing the ground rules, protecting my furniture, and having fun! Here is a photo of her - oh yeah, that is a rock in her mouth. Nothing is off limits to her curiosity.

That said, I have been missing my crafty time. When I saw this is Laurie Schmidlin's last week as muse/guest designer at CASE Study I knew I had to play along. I love her designs and attention to detail. I knew this would be the perfect vacation for my mind - if only a short one.

This beautiful card she created is just a dream - that crisp embossed background, the pretty pastels, the flowers and doily - all such a feast for the eyes. I tried to pick up on all my favorite details and still make it "mine". Because of the romantic feel I thought I'd make mine a wedding congratulations card.

I embossed the pink background and ran a white inkpad across it to bring out more of the embossing. I made the flower in the bottom right corner by simply folding circle cut paper and piecing them together. I double cut the butterfly to give it more dimension. The pretty ribbon I used was given to me by my sweet friend JJ Bolton from the Ribbon Girls. If we could only talk JJ into jumping back into the ribbon business I think we'd all be so much happier!! Here's a few close up's...

Thanks for having a look! I appreciate your kindness and understanding!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Hi and welcome to the Serendipity Blog Challenge! Mary, the talented creator and owner of Serendipity has challenged the design team to come up with projects featuring flourish images. Serendipity has several flourish stamps from fancy to casual - you can see the flourish designs available by clicking here.

Looking for some new designs? Serendipity just released new Spring and Summer stamps that you can see here. The special this week is 20% off word stamps.

To create the design pattern on my card I stamped the bird flourish stamp (shown on pink in the photo) and cut it with an oval die. To "frame" my bird flourish with the background stamps I lined up the oval die cut with the "wheat branches" on the flourish and mirror flourish stamps and stuck them to my stamping block. I lined them up just on the edge of the block so I could line it up with the edge on my paper.

I stamped them on the 4" side of a 4" x 4.25" piece of vintage cream paper. I then stamped the opposite side of the paper to create this pattern. The oval will fit nicely in the center of this shape. Don't worry if some of the wheat branches are showing - or if the design is a little "off" the scalloped oval die cut placed under the oval die cut with the bird image will cover this up. Here's what the image looks like stamped twice.

I made mine a Sympathy card - but the elegance of the design would make an excellent wedding congratulations or invitation. The wheat design would also be beautiful for Thanksgiving.

I finished off the card with an embossed strip across the bottom, some lace and a piece of velvet ribbon. I topped that with my sentiment - a congratulations would look gorgeous on this card as well. The two metal / gem embellishments are Swarovski Elements sliders that I found in the jewelry section of the craft store. Here's a close up..

And this is the finished card...

I hope you will hop along to the other design team member blogs and see what they came up with for this Flourishes Challenge. Just click on the names below (listed alphabetically).

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

It's been an easy day for me so far. I spent a few hours in the garden planting some flowers I picked up at the local garden center. In the past I've planted hundreds of bulbs only to be out smarted by deer, squirrels and chipmunks - apparently these are tasty snacks for critters. I found some Irises and something called a Toad Lilly that start from roots so I thought I would give them a try.

Today I'm playing along with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge. This week's sketch is by Mischief Maker, Karin Åkesdotter. Karen's designs are always well thought out - she has a great eye for design and space on her layouts. You can check out her blog by clicking on her name.

I turned this sketch into a Christmas card. I stamped the background on PTI kraft paper using the snowflake from Join Us. Next, lots and lots of layers for the focal point of the reindeer from2011 Holiday Ornaments. I added a row of tiny bows and jingle bells as well as a few tiny red gems on the snowflakes because let's face it, I'm addicted to bling.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Good morning! I hope you are having a great day! After all the running around last week getting everything ready for Easter this week seems like a breeze to me. There are lots of left overs from the big meal so I don't even have to cook today! It's great to have some extra "me" time and get to play along in a few challenges! Today I'm playing along with Just Us Girls Challenge #131. Here's a photo of the sketch this week.

I started my design with a beautiful strip of ribbon given to me by my good friend JJ Bolton from the Ribbon Girls blog. It is a beautiful satin brocade with gold in it. I played with all the color in the ribbon in my design - especially that beautiful gold. I used a Copic marker to color the pins and the pearl in the center of the flower to get just the shade I wanted. The pins are stuck in a piece of pop up foam on the underside of the heart. The fancy Serendipity scroll heart is stuck down on a foam dot placed strategically under the flower.

Thanks for stopping by to have a look! Enjoy the beautiful Spring weather!

Monday, April 9, 2012

I hope you had a fabulous Easter! The weather was beautiful and I had my parents and sister over for a great meal. I made ham with all the trimmings and finished it off with a home made carrot cake with cream cheese icing. My daughter and I piped on little orange carrots complete with greenery.

Today I'm playing along with Case Study. I love the inspiration from their guest designers, and getting to try some new techniques. This week's Case Study Challenge #85 is inspired by muse/guest designer Laurie Schmidlin.

Here's the beauty of CASE - focus on the elements you love about the design, improvise, and make a unique creation of your own. It's not hard to see all the elements that I adored about Laurie's design - the color combination, the black stitching, and the flowers with the twine and tulle. I took those elements and improvised with the supplies I had on hand and added a few extras of my own like the keyhole and key. I always love seeing all the different directions the sketch goes.

Thanks so much for having a look, I hope you are inspired to play along!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Hi! and Happy Thursday! Are you getting ready for Easter? I feel like I've been shopping all week trying to get the freshest ingredients - why can't they all be at one store? I think I am just about done! I picked up an Easter Lilly for my mom and some Easter basket goodies for the kids today - the chocolate kind. I purposely waited until later in the week so I wouldn't wind up eating them all! I hope they are willing to share later!

Today I'm playing along with the Cupcake Inspirations challenge. I saw these sweet little bunny cupcakes and made my own little paper confection. I used lots of pink inspired by the flowers in the photo. Isn't this little guy just the sweetest? The card was quick and easy - and who couldn't use that around the holidays? Another plus is that it is flat so I can mail it easy! Yes, I know, I made a flat card!! YEAHHHHHH! Maybe all that "I think I can, I think I can" stuff really works!

I stamped my bunny twice - once on the original, once for a mask. I then stamped the sentiment. I covered my original bunny with the mask and then stamped the background. I added lots of shading in distress spun sugar (how appropriate) and layered it on dark and then lighter pink paper.

Hi I'm Jeanne!

A Kept Life

I left my career a few years ago, and at the time my husband started calling me "a kept wife". The name of my blog is a play on that expression, because now I capture moments in photographs, and create in color in my "kept life". I hope you enjoy - thanks for stopping by!